Hi, Im new to large format so I would appreciate some help. My Century Graphic has a Graflex Trioptar f 4.5 03mm lens. What size lens is this? I'm used to 35mm format and have no idea what kind of lens this is.

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On 2004-07-26 18:13, GRAMPACON wrote: Hi, Im new to large format so I would appreciate some help. My Century Graphic has a Graflex Trioptar f 4.5 03mm lens. What size lens is this? I'm used to 35mm format and have no idea what kind of lens this is.

It is a 103 mm lens, i.e., a normal lens for 2.25" x 3.25". Comparable to 43 mm, the normal (= diagonal of format) lens for 35 mm still.

Yes, I know there's a convention that the normal lens for 35 mm is 50 mm. Nice convention, but the diagonal of 24 mm x 36 mm really is 43 mm. Blame Leica.

Hope this helps,

Dan

Thanks for the info. Dann.

It's commonly held among old time 35mm shooters that the "normal" lens would really be 60mm, or perhaps 55mm.

"Normal" is not an optical term, it's a reference to the way humans (or photographers) are thought most conventionally to look at the world. It has more to do with the shape of our heads and positons of our eyes than it does with film measurement.

Obviously, many or most Leica photographers prefer 35mm lenses over 50mm, but it's interesting that they did for a while try to sell the unfortunate 40mm compromise. Voigtlander is currently attempting the same thing, a bad idea. Note that nobody else has produced a popular 40mm lens in the entire history of 35mm still cameras.